The Most Dangerous Game Analysis

In the story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning, the authors use characterization and imagery to convey that the desire for power can drive man to psychotic actions.

In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, the protagonist character, Sander Rainsford is an adventurous and fearless big game hunter. Rainsford has no remorse for his prey. Over the course of the story Rainsford experiences a sudden change of heart when he finds himself where “The world is made up of two classes—the hunters and the huntees.”

It had been a week since Rainsford managed to kill the nefarious General Zaroff. The challenging part was almost over or so it seemed. There was not a clear way for Rainsford to escape. As days passed, Rainsford tried to escape. He tried making a boat from driftwood that he found, he tried swimming, he even tried sending a signal by using a flashlight. Rainsford had become so desperate that he even tried some ridiculous plans like trying to pole vault across the ocean. As a result, Rainsford ended up having huge gashes in his left leg ,which got infected, and he had to amputate it. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, Rainsford had lost hope and became bitter.

Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" is a very exciting story of a manhunt. This story made me think about the morality of hunting: Humans are the cleverest creatures on earth, but does it give them a license to kill the other animals and even human beings weaker than themselves? I give below a short summary of the story to set the scene and then I will explore the ethics involved in hunting as a sport. "The Most Dangerous Game" presents the story of a hunter, General Zaroff, who finds hunting human beings as the most dangerous and fascinating sport.

What is human nature? The Bible says in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all fallen, sinful and depraved, all of us are. Humans are evil. Genesis 1-3 shows us that God made us whole and good, but we have ruined his perfect plan. The greatest of men were all sinners. Moses, the leader of Israel was a murder (Exodus 2:11-15), David slept with Bathsheba and then killed her husband (2 Samuel 11-12), Paul murdered christians (Acts 9), and the list goes on and on.

Imagine turning up on an island with a psychotic man, a man who hunts humans. This is what General Zaroff does, on Ship-Trap-Island. General Zaroff is a rich hunter who hunts most animals, even the most dangerous. This is the story written by Richard Connell, called The Most Dangerous Game, It is about a psychotic man with a hunting obsession. Once Zaroff gets bored with the hunting animals he turns to something new, humans. The author thinks that hunting is normal, that people have a killer instinct. That it is our human nature to hunt, and kill. The author also thinks that it is human nature to look for new challenges and to live strong. Much like Zaroff, the author believes life, is for the willing.

In the short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell expertly exploits foreshadowing and vivid imagery to emphasize danger and suspense. Many authors attempt to do this, but only a small few succeed. Everyone who has stayed up past their bedtime reading a book will tell you, they stayed awake because the book they were reading was filled with suspense. It is suspense that separates the great stories from the good stories. And “The Most Dangerous Game” is definately a great one. By using foreshadowing and utilizing his characters five senses, Connell keeps readers at the edge of their seats, eagerly waiting to find out what comes next.

In the beginning of the story, before Rainsford falls overboard and ends up swimming ashore to the island, his friend Whitney asserts that animals instinctively feel fear. Afterwards, conveying to Rainsford that Ship-Trap Island establishes a fear in him (68). This is the first incident of Connell blurring the line between reason and instinct in his theme. Whitney is instinctively feeling fear because the island seems threatening; it is a God-forsaken place to him(68). Connell set this first incident up in order to begin the questioning of the traditional thought that humans are above instinct. With the ability to reason present within humans instinct seems to be something bestial, and this is exactly how Rainsford originally views reason and instinct.

Resourcefulness is being able to overcome difficulties quickly and in a clever way. Resourcefulness can also be using one’s surroundings for his/her benefit with prior knowledge and experience. In Richard Connell’s short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the main character Rainsford shows these skills of resourcefulness as he tries to survive the hunt. Rainsford is an experienced big game hunter that is trapped on a tropical jungle covered island with another big game hunter, General Zaroff. Zaroff has gained so much experience in hunting, due to this he has lost interest in hunting animals and now enjoys the hunt of humans. Rainsford is put in the position to be torched or participate in a game of hunting. When Rainsford is challenged to this game of hunting he is forced to try and survive. Rainsford is able to survive the hunt because he uses his resources and prior knowledge to weaken Zaroff helping him win the hunt.

One of the darker actions examined in this unit takes place in "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. In this short story, General Zaroff begins hunting a man lost on his island named Rainsford. Bored of the usual game, General Zaroff decides he wants something more exciting and chooses to prey on humans. This ill-judged decision has a domino effect on the plot, ultimately ending in the demise of Zaroff. Nonetheless, an alternate ending besides death could have very well been a possibility. Perhaps, instead of hunting humans, Zaroff decides to open a hunting camp to share his passion for the sport with others. Obviously, his boredom is caused by the island's isolation from society. So, Zaroff could have built homes and started a community or decide to leave the island altogether. Then, the course of this story would have taken a completely different path. Maybe, Zaroff finds a wife, they have children and live happily ever after. If only he was able to overcome his dark side instead of letting it consume him.

Imagine a world where people hunt other people as a sport and the hunters become the prey in a fight to survive. In the short story, “The most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell there is a rich hunter named Sanger Rainsford and he is on his yacht in the middle of the Caribbean. After hearing a gunshot he leans over the side of the yacht and he swims to a strange island. On that Island he meets General Zaroff. During a dinner Zaroff tells Rainsford about the hunts he likes to go on and after much convincing Rainsford reluctantly agrees to go on the hunt. Rainsford spends the next few days in a fight for his survival and ends up winning “the game.” In “The Most Dangerous Game” Richard Connell creates suspense by using two elements: foreshadowing and dangerous action.

In the short story by Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game, Sanger Rainsford finds himself in a sticky situation when he meets General Zaroff. General Zaroff is a very talented hunter and had become tired of hunting the same old animals as always, they bored him as he explained in the story, he had now moved on to the best prey he could find, a prey that could fight and think for themselves, and that prey was humans. Rainsford is taken aback by this confession and is alarmed, he asks Zaroff to let him go, but Zaroff has other plans. In order for Rainsford to get off the island alive he must survive three full days on the island while being hunted by General Zaroff. Rainsford agrees, knowing that if declines this choice his life would have a much more unpleasant future. And so the the hunt began, but Rainsford had some tricks up his sleeve.

Underestimation and cruel actions lead to many things. In “The Most Dangerous Game,” author Richard Connell reveals a conflict between main characters, General Zaroff and Rainsford. Rainsford was to play the most dangerous game, created by Zaroff, because the only way to survive, is to win it, otherwise death is the only other option. As demonstrated through the use of personification, symbolism, and repetition in the story, it conveys that one should understand to never underestimate another person and remember that there will always be a consequence for the wicked things that one has done.

There are survivors all around us, and they all could have faced grave challenges to be standing where they are today. Rainsford, in the "Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, faced intense challenges in a "fight to the death" conflict against one of his most successful supporters, General Zaroff. Lee, from "My escape from North Korea" by Hyeonseo Lee, faced tough challenges while trying to escape the depths of a country that treated her horrendously. Aron Ralston, from "Trapped", a story explaining that Aron himself was hiking alone when the unthinkable happened: Two large, heavy boulders fell on his arm and he had to endure over a hundred painful hours of being trapped in between the two rocks until he did a self-amputation on the arm

The most dangerous game is about a man name Rainsford, who’s a hunter who was going somewhere in Africa for hunting then they pass an island called ship-trap island. Rainsford ask why the island called? His friend just told him that many sailors go missing when they pass the island. Rainsford got chills looking at the dark mysterious island, then a powerful wave knock him out of his boat and Rainsford trying to catch up to it but couldn’t, and Rainsford decided to swim to the island and hope for sanctuary somewhere inside the foresting jungle waiting for him. He makes to the island and heard gun shots and he was happy he heard guns’ shots because he’s not the only human on ship-trap island. He found a house or a mansion and he knock on it.